I should be in Bend, OR right now, but I'm back in Portland. I was forced to abandon the Cascade Classic at about 10 km from the finish of Friday's stage. I crashed at around 35 mph and landed on a fery unforgiving road surface that took some large core samples out of my knee and elbow. I had to get my knee stitched up, and now I'm not able to bend my knee much or ride for about a week. The timing is pretty bad since the Tour de Toona starts in about a week. I probably won't be able to ride in this race now, so I think I'll end up just heading back to Boulder.
I'm already feeling really antsy from being inactive for a couple days... injury sucks. The weather in Portand is beautiful right now, so I've been trying to spend as much time outside side as possible. Yesterday, My girlfriend Alex and I spent the entire day at the park. She studied for the MCAT and I finished reading Miracle in the Andes, which was really good.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Rainy Days
Well, now I know why Wes bought the XBOX. This last weekend, the team left Matt and I the house to ourselves while they went to do the Rochester Crit and another Crit on Sunday. No TV or internet, usually easy sources of entertainment, left us scratching our heads to find other ways to keep from going nuts. It rained the entire day, which didn’t help at all. We still managed to get out and ride for a solid two hours in the pouring rain. That wasn’t that bad actually; it doesn’t get cold here when it rains like it does in Colorado.
Matt and I kept ourselves entertained by driving to Norwalk and shopping the local Wally-world. That place was a madhouse, every corner you turn, someone would be there with there shopping cart, oblivious to your presence, completely prepared to slam it into your shins. After Matt and I finished shopping, we were both cracked and bonked we drove home and watched Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. We’ve got the entire trilogy here; I’m sure I watch the next two movies soon.
The riding here is pretty damn sweet. I still miss the long climbs of Colorado, but there is definitely no shortage of hard climbs here… most of the time you’re either going up or down, and when you’re riding with Frank, you’re punching it up every single climb.
Yesterday I did a V02max test, and I had some pretty high numbers. I was obviously a little worried before the test that I would score low numbers and have it mess with my head. But, I was higher than I expected, so that’s great for my confidence going into Fitzburg.
In less than a week I’ll be flying back out to Portland to see my lovely girlfriend. I’ll be spending a little over two weeks out there and will also be racing the Cascade classic. My team’s not doing it, so I’ll be racing solo. It looks like a good race for me, so I’m looking forward to it.
Matt and I kept ourselves entertained by driving to Norwalk and shopping the local Wally-world. That place was a madhouse, every corner you turn, someone would be there with there shopping cart, oblivious to your presence, completely prepared to slam it into your shins. After Matt and I finished shopping, we were both cracked and bonked we drove home and watched Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. We’ve got the entire trilogy here; I’m sure I watch the next two movies soon.
The riding here is pretty damn sweet. I still miss the long climbs of Colorado, but there is definitely no shortage of hard climbs here… most of the time you’re either going up or down, and when you’re riding with Frank, you’re punching it up every single climb.
Yesterday I did a V02max test, and I had some pretty high numbers. I was obviously a little worried before the test that I would score low numbers and have it mess with my head. But, I was higher than I expected, so that’s great for my confidence going into Fitzburg.
In less than a week I’ll be flying back out to Portland to see my lovely girlfriend. I’ll be spending a little over two weeks out there and will also be racing the Cascade classic. My team’s not doing it, so I’ll be racing solo. It looks like a good race for me, so I’m looking forward to it.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Ya sure, Minnesota, don't ya know
After about a four year hiatus from Minnesota, my home state, I’ve finally come back to ride in yet another race, the Nature Valley Grand Prix. The race was by far the low point of the trip. Seeing all of my old friends after all these years, catching up and reminiscing made my post-race feelings disappear. Coming back to Minnesota was like walking through a time warp. All my friends are still there, still as tight as ever, doing all the same fun shit. My time in Minnesota was short, and I have a tendency when in these situations to try to pack in as many activities with as many people as possible. Luckily for me, my friend Tom was able to organize a party on Sunday night, with all my closest friends that I grew up with. It was just like the good ol’ days, minus the hackysac. We also got together one last time on Tuesday night before I left at Jeremy’s house. We had the crazy idea to do some night urban assault. So between four of us we had a Big Hit (DH bike), a tricked out Schwinn Homegrown XC from mountain biking's heyday, a low-end MTB, and a 35 lb dirtjumper… it was quite the selection of awkward bikes. We switched bikes throughout the ride, because each one was uniquely fun to ride. I haven’t gone urban assault in years; I forgot how much fun it was. You can basically turn anything in sick singletrack. I wish I had more time to spend with my bros; I would’ve loved to go ride some of the real MN singletrack that I spent all my early days shredding as a youngster.
I fulfilled a typical Minnesotan summer tradition by heading up to Alex’s cabin a couple hours north of the cities, which is on a beautiful lake. We drove up Monday morning. We canoed the around the lake, fished, dug for worms, played dominoes, and ate some fried walleye. Mainly, spending time up at her cabin was incredibly relaxing. I need a hell of a lot more time than only a couple of extra days to spend in MN, but these two days were incredibly refreshing for me. A break from the racing/training boat, albeit a small one, was greatly needed. I can’t think of a better way to recharge the CNS than by chillin’ at the cabin and getting crazy with great friends.
As I write this, I’m listening to the music of one of my very close friends from HS, Dom Bazzett, he threw a couple of his CDs my way, and I’m totally impressed. He’s always been an extremely gifted musician/artist. It’s really cool to see how much his ability has progressed. Him and I used to rock out and record music back in the day, I was no musician, Dom and I just had a love for music, and we still do. I’ve been away from home for so long, I don’t know if I’ve ever felt such powerful nostalgia, it’s a strange emotion. It feels like there’s a magnetic force that wants to keep me here.
I'm back at the team house in Westport, CT now sitting on the side of a busy road borrowing free wi-fi from some unsuspecting neighbor. Wes bought an X-Box to pass the time and he and Shriver have been glued to the thing playing Madden Football since I arrived. I think I'll try to avoid getting sucked into playing the new toy. It looks like it takes a long time and a lot of patience to figure out, there's about 20 different buttons on controller... a lot has changed since Nintendo, with only two buttons. The riding around is really beautiful, the roads are real narrow, barely any traffic, and every house is a mansion. I can only imagine what the singletrack is like.
I still have a couple months of racing ahead of me, which consists mainly of stage races; Fitzburg, Cascade, and Toona. I need to make it through these… hopefully more than just make it through them, and then it’s back to my real home, Boulder.
I fulfilled a typical Minnesotan summer tradition by heading up to Alex’s cabin a couple hours north of the cities, which is on a beautiful lake. We drove up Monday morning. We canoed the around the lake, fished, dug for worms, played dominoes, and ate some fried walleye. Mainly, spending time up at her cabin was incredibly relaxing. I need a hell of a lot more time than only a couple of extra days to spend in MN, but these two days were incredibly refreshing for me. A break from the racing/training boat, albeit a small one, was greatly needed. I can’t think of a better way to recharge the CNS than by chillin’ at the cabin and getting crazy with great friends.
As I write this, I’m listening to the music of one of my very close friends from HS, Dom Bazzett, he threw a couple of his CDs my way, and I’m totally impressed. He’s always been an extremely gifted musician/artist. It’s really cool to see how much his ability has progressed. Him and I used to rock out and record music back in the day, I was no musician, Dom and I just had a love for music, and we still do. I’ve been away from home for so long, I don’t know if I’ve ever felt such powerful nostalgia, it’s a strange emotion. It feels like there’s a magnetic force that wants to keep me here.
I'm back at the team house in Westport, CT now sitting on the side of a busy road borrowing free wi-fi from some unsuspecting neighbor. Wes bought an X-Box to pass the time and he and Shriver have been glued to the thing playing Madden Football since I arrived. I think I'll try to avoid getting sucked into playing the new toy. It looks like it takes a long time and a lot of patience to figure out, there's about 20 different buttons on controller... a lot has changed since Nintendo, with only two buttons. The riding around is really beautiful, the roads are real narrow, barely any traffic, and every house is a mansion. I can only imagine what the singletrack is like.
I still have a couple months of racing ahead of me, which consists mainly of stage races; Fitzburg, Cascade, and Toona. I need to make it through these… hopefully more than just make it through them, and then it’s back to my real home, Boulder.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Philly week is over!!
These have been the hardest races of the year by far. Ever since my crash at CSC, I haven’t been feeling 100%, so that just made these races even more demanding. Reading, PA was the second race of the Triple Crown series in Philly, and it was my first race back after crashing at CSC. During the race, I was constantly thinking about crashing again, which is possibly the worst thing to have in your head when you’re racing road, so I was pretty timid most of the race. My lack of aggression put me a little too far back in the field on the last lap when I should have been fighting to stay at the front. Because of this, I was back with some of the weaker riders that were opening gaps when the pace was lifted. I wasn’t able to close the gap, so I just rode in with a chase group.
The final race in Philly was amazing. I couldn’t believe what a huge production it was. Coming from a mountain bike background, where the only spectators are either your friends who race in a different category, your girlfriend, or your parents, the amount of spectators at Philly completely blew me away. Climbing up Manyuk almost made you deaf from the loud screaming drunken fans. Dustin made the early break, which took a lot of pressure off our team and made the pace chill out for a while. I abandoned the race about halfway through due to a flat and the slowest wheel change ever at the bottom of Manyuk. The guy who changed my wheel either mangled my rear derailleur while he was violently trying to force the new wheel into my dropouts, or simply the cassette that was on the new wheel just wasn’t compatible with my components, because the shifting was way off. Just about every gear skipped, sending my knees into the handlebars a few times while ascending the Manyuk wall. Dustin small breakaway group stayed away for most of the race. With Dustin being the strongest climber in the group, he won almost every KOM point of the entire race, and in the end was the KOM winner. Frank Pipp was our best finisher in 14th place.
Tomorrow I’ll be flying up to Minnesota to the Nature Valley Grand Prix. I’m looking forward to this race. After a pretty shaky week at Philly, I think that my body and mind will be a little more relaxed at Nature Valley and I predict I’ll feel a lot better. I’m also really excited to see all my friends that I grew up with… I haven’t seen any of them in a few years. My girlfriend is also coming up there, so I’ll get to spend some time with her and meet her folks.
Today, my teammates and I are without bikes, so we’re forced to find other things to do with our time. Well, Guptil and I have been online for about the last three hours, which is nothing new for most pro cyclists… I wonder what pro cyclists did to kill time before wireless internet? We’ll probably go check out a matinee movie later… you gotta love rest days.
The final race in Philly was amazing. I couldn’t believe what a huge production it was. Coming from a mountain bike background, where the only spectators are either your friends who race in a different category, your girlfriend, or your parents, the amount of spectators at Philly completely blew me away. Climbing up Manyuk almost made you deaf from the loud screaming drunken fans. Dustin made the early break, which took a lot of pressure off our team and made the pace chill out for a while. I abandoned the race about halfway through due to a flat and the slowest wheel change ever at the bottom of Manyuk. The guy who changed my wheel either mangled my rear derailleur while he was violently trying to force the new wheel into my dropouts, or simply the cassette that was on the new wheel just wasn’t compatible with my components, because the shifting was way off. Just about every gear skipped, sending my knees into the handlebars a few times while ascending the Manyuk wall. Dustin small breakaway group stayed away for most of the race. With Dustin being the strongest climber in the group, he won almost every KOM point of the entire race, and in the end was the KOM winner. Frank Pipp was our best finisher in 14th place.
Tomorrow I’ll be flying up to Minnesota to the Nature Valley Grand Prix. I’m looking forward to this race. After a pretty shaky week at Philly, I think that my body and mind will be a little more relaxed at Nature Valley and I predict I’ll feel a lot better. I’m also really excited to see all my friends that I grew up with… I haven’t seen any of them in a few years. My girlfriend is also coming up there, so I’ll get to spend some time with her and meet her folks.
Today, my teammates and I are without bikes, so we’re forced to find other things to do with our time. Well, Guptil and I have been online for about the last three hours, which is nothing new for most pro cyclists… I wonder what pro cyclists did to kill time before wireless internet? We’ll probably go check out a matinee movie later… you gotta love rest days.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Crash and Burn
After seeing so many crashes this year at just about every race, I knew that it was inevitable that my time would eventually come. My team has already lost a couple riders this year from crashes which have thinned our team down to only 9 available riders going into Philly. My form has been pretty decent lately, so I ended up being slated on the rosters for every race leading up to and during Philly week.
Yesterday was the CSC Invitational crit, which was a race that I was originally going to sit out. I started the race feeling a little fried from all the traveling and racing we've been doing, along with two nights in a row of bad sleep. I felt ok in the race, but probably the worst that I've felt since I've been out here. The race was extremely fast from the gun. I started in the very back once again, so it took me a few laps to get near the front. I rode somewhere in the top third of the field for the whole time I was in the race, but found it extremely difficult to move up since the field was totally strung out for about 90% of the race. The pace let up enough only a few times to move up to the front. At some point in the middle of the race around the final corner (corner 5) the field was pushed a little to far to the outside which caused a rider about four guys up from me to slam into the barriers. My teammate Wes slammed into him, blowing his bike to pieces; I was then pushed into the barriers. It happened so fast that I don't exactly remember how it happened, but I went face first into the barrier and put a deep gash in my chin, that's now got 18 stitches in it, and I also chipped my tooth.
I got to spend the next few hours in the hospital, mostly in the waiting room, in the company of all the other cyclists that went down in the multitude of crashes. For a flat crit, with only five corners, I can't believe how sketchy it was (especially corner five and the metal barriers!!). Even more unbelievable, only 25 guys finished from the original 150 that started! I pretty glad to be done with crits for a while, and doing road races and stages races instead. Other than my messed up face, the rest of me is ok, just slightly sore.
Wes and I made it up to Lancaster that night, and the neighbors of our host family were having a big ol' BBQ. We were over there immediately after stepping out of the car eating burgers and cookies, drinking some brews and mingling with the locals.
Wes's competitive side came out in full force when he took on a bunch of eight-year olds in tug-of-war... they kicked his ass.
I'm going to sit out Lancaster today and rest up all week so that I'm fresh for Reading on Thursday, and Philly on Saturday. I'm a little bummed that I'll miss it, but I think it's for the best.
Yesterday was the CSC Invitational crit, which was a race that I was originally going to sit out. I started the race feeling a little fried from all the traveling and racing we've been doing, along with two nights in a row of bad sleep. I felt ok in the race, but probably the worst that I've felt since I've been out here. The race was extremely fast from the gun. I started in the very back once again, so it took me a few laps to get near the front. I rode somewhere in the top third of the field for the whole time I was in the race, but found it extremely difficult to move up since the field was totally strung out for about 90% of the race. The pace let up enough only a few times to move up to the front. At some point in the middle of the race around the final corner (corner 5) the field was pushed a little to far to the outside which caused a rider about four guys up from me to slam into the barriers. My teammate Wes slammed into him, blowing his bike to pieces; I was then pushed into the barriers. It happened so fast that I don't exactly remember how it happened, but I went face first into the barrier and put a deep gash in my chin, that's now got 18 stitches in it, and I also chipped my tooth.
I got to spend the next few hours in the hospital, mostly in the waiting room, in the company of all the other cyclists that went down in the multitude of crashes. For a flat crit, with only five corners, I can't believe how sketchy it was (especially corner five and the metal barriers!!). Even more unbelievable, only 25 guys finished from the original 150 that started! I pretty glad to be done with crits for a while, and doing road races and stages races instead. Other than my messed up face, the rest of me is ok, just slightly sore.
Wes and I made it up to Lancaster that night, and the neighbors of our host family were having a big ol' BBQ. We were over there immediately after stepping out of the car eating burgers and cookies, drinking some brews and mingling with the locals.
Wes's competitive side came out in full force when he took on a bunch of eight-year olds in tug-of-war... they kicked his ass.
I'm going to sit out Lancaster today and rest up all week so that I'm fresh for Reading on Thursday, and Philly on Saturday. I'm a little bummed that I'll miss it, but I think it's for the best.
Friday, June 02, 2006
On the East Coast
I've been out on the east coast for only a week now and I'm about to hop in the team van again to drive to my fourth home in Arlington, VA. Travelling has been a major theme of the last week. It started out on a really bad note with me and teamates flight from Farmington, NM to Philly.... I'm not going to explain what happened, all I'll say is that it sucked. We started racing immedieatly the next day with BikeJam in Baltimore, MD. This was a fun crit in a park in the ghetto. The whole team rode strong and Alejandro took 3rd. A couple days later we raced the Tour of Somerville in Somerville, NJ. This was by far the hottest I've ever been in a bike race. I was feeling heatstroke overwhelming me as the race went on... I had the chills, goosebumbs, and felt like I was going to pass out and hurl for much of the race. After this race the we went to our new team house, that we won't be living in for a few weeks, in Westport, CT. This is a beautiful area. I think every house has got to be worth over a million.
Right now I'm in Richmond, VA for the CAPTECH Classic crit that I raced last night. That was probably the hardest crit of the year, or maybe second hardest next to the Joe Martin Crit. We had to do fifty laps and each lap had a big climb and some fast downhill corners, and it was at night. I felt great on the climb, but I sucked on the corners and kept letting gaps open which would cause me to chase hard every lap to close them down. Only about 30 guys finished, and I wasn't one of them. However, I stuck it out longer than most of the field (about 3/4 of the race), and felt good.... I just need to figure out how to corner faster.
It looks like I'll be doing all three Philly races now, which I'm really excited about. Lancaster is the first of three and starts on Sunday. My form is pretty good right now, and I think it'll keep getting better as the season rolls on. The rest of the team seems to be riding well too, so hopefully we'll be able to pull off some good results in these upcoming races.
Right now I'm in Richmond, VA for the CAPTECH Classic crit that I raced last night. That was probably the hardest crit of the year, or maybe second hardest next to the Joe Martin Crit. We had to do fifty laps and each lap had a big climb and some fast downhill corners, and it was at night. I felt great on the climb, but I sucked on the corners and kept letting gaps open which would cause me to chase hard every lap to close them down. Only about 30 guys finished, and I wasn't one of them. However, I stuck it out longer than most of the field (about 3/4 of the race), and felt good.... I just need to figure out how to corner faster.
It looks like I'll be doing all three Philly races now, which I'm really excited about. Lancaster is the first of three and starts on Sunday. My form is pretty good right now, and I think it'll keep getting better as the season rolls on. The rest of the team seems to be riding well too, so hopefully we'll be able to pull off some good results in these upcoming races.
Monday, May 22, 2006
D-town
For the last week I've been kicking it in Durango at my Teammate Andy Guptil's house. Durango is beautiful right now, it's incredibly green, and the weather's been great. It took me a while to feel recovered from the Joe Martin Stage Race. I think racing at sea level, and then coming to a high elevevtion adds a day or two onto your recovery time. I ended up spending the first half of the week resting. Thursday I finally felt ready to open the legs up again so I did about 25 minutes of LT up to the top of Coal Bank Pass, which is around 10,500 feet. It's crazy how much harder it is to do intensity up there. Later that night I went down to Pagosa and soaked in the hot springs. That was great for the legs.
I didn't hit the training again until this weekend when Guptil, Shriver, Phil Zijack and I decided to ride from Durango to Silverton and back both saturday and Sunday. We were about five miles short of Silverton on Saturday due to some bad weather rolling in, but we made it on Sunday. Both days had around 10,000 feet of climbing, were just shy of 100 miles, and much of the ride was above 9,000 feet. We held a steady tempo the entire ride, so by the end we were all feeling pretty worked. Guptil had a BBQ at his place sunday night, so to top off a perfect weekend, I grilled up a fat half-pound elk burger with sautied onions and mushrooms, avacado, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and plenty of ketchup. Yum.
I didn't hit the training again until this weekend when Guptil, Shriver, Phil Zijack and I decided to ride from Durango to Silverton and back both saturday and Sunday. We were about five miles short of Silverton on Saturday due to some bad weather rolling in, but we made it on Sunday. Both days had around 10,000 feet of climbing, were just shy of 100 miles, and much of the ride was above 9,000 feet. We held a steady tempo the entire ride, so by the end we were all feeling pretty worked. Guptil had a BBQ at his place sunday night, so to top off a perfect weekend, I grilled up a fat half-pound elk burger with sautied onions and mushrooms, avacado, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and plenty of ketchup. Yum.
Me, Phil, and Andy restocking the fuel supplies at Needles Store.
We met up with some Locals at the top of Molas Pass at 10,900 feet
Monday, May 15, 2006
Sweet Home Arkansas
Since I haven’t posted in over a week, this post is going to be way too long. I’m writing it while sitting in the passenger seat while Guptil is taking a pull at the wheel on our Drive back from Fayetteville, Arkansas. So fill up you coffee cup with some bean juice or some yerba mate because this one’ll take while.
The last time I blogged, I was in the middle of the Tour de Gila preparing to race stage four, the crit, with thoughts of stage five rattling around in the back of my mind. I felt great in the crit, so I decided to try to get into a break. I tried to a couple of times; my first attempt was when I saw Mike Dietrich from Sierra-Nevada go up the road. I jumped on that but it didn’t stick. I made another attempt when Jon Tarkinton from Vitamin Cottage attacked; I knew that was a good wheel to follow due to his recent dominance in the Front Range races and reputation as a strong crit tactician. We were able to escape from the group with a couple of TIAA-Cref guys and a couple Successful Living guys. It was good to be up in the break, and I really wanted it to stick so I was driving it probably a bit too hard. The Cref and Successful Living guys were barely taking any pulls, which was a little frustrating. We were out there for most of the race and caught with about eight laps to go. Rashaan Bahati from Cref took the W from Gord who celebrated a little too early.
Before and after the race I got together with the infamous Dr. Frank, the chiropractor of the best pros in Durango. He’s becoming widely known in the world for his research and development of SRA (Spinal Reflex Analysis). The technique that he’s developed is amazing. After the crit, my body was worked, but after Dr. Frank worked on me, I felt like I hadn’t even raced at all. Check his website at http://www.spinalreflex.com/.
The final stage of the Gila was epic. We had about four major climbs to total about 10,000 feet of climbing in about 100 miles. Coming into the first climb, the field had about 100 guys in it. By the time we got over the top the field had already thinned down to about 40 guys. The second climb was the same road, only the other direction and slightly steeper. Once again this split the field in half and only about 20 of us were left. There was one more long and steep climb and this caused about five more guys to pop. We were about 80 miles into the race by this point and the legs were really screaming. I made it over this climb with the lead group, but I finally cracked with about 8 miles to go on the final rollers to the finish. I still managed a decent result and moved way up in GC. Our team made out really well with Colby taking 4th, Guptil 14th, and me in 18th in GC.
After Gila, I spent a couple days in Durango unwinding, then made the 15 hour journey out to Arkansas, my birthplace. We had a solid team at the Joe Martin stage race. It was great to see my teammates, mechanic, and director again. I got to experience having a suanier for the first time, which made recovery so much better. You can’t beat gettin’ a massage after every stage. And Janis made a mean PB and banana sandwich.
The racing in Arkansas was actually pretty damn hard. I don’t know what the promoter was thinking, but he decided to combine the Pros and 1s with 2s, which made for a field of about 215 guys… Way too big! So riding near the front was really important, to avoid gaps and crashes. The pace wasn’t too hard until the one major climb of the course. Unfortunately for me, I was taken out in a crash at the base of the climb when the two guys in front of me locked bars. By the time I got up and on the spare bike I had lost too much time and wasn’t able to catch back up by the top of the climb. At that point, there was no way I was going to be able to catch the group on my own. I caught a small chase group, and then was swept up by a large chase group. I was pretty frustrated with the group because no one was willing to work, and the group was large enough that we could’ve possibly caught up if everyone would’ve taken pulls. So I lost a lot of time in the first stage, which knocked me way out of GC.
The next day was a double day; road race in the morning and TT in the evening. The road race felt little harder then the previous day, but maybe that was just because my legs were just a little more trashed. The TT went alright, but I felt like I could’ve gone a lot harder. The Crit was the final day, and was the hardest crit I’ve ever done. It had a lot of high speed corners, wind, and a steep climb that absolutely punished the legs every lap.
The team ended up doing really well again with four of us in the top forty in GC, with Colby as the top rider in 5th.
I'm back on the road now returning to D-town for the next week and a half. The next block of races will start on the east coast with Captech, Bikejam, and Summerville leading into Philly week. Then I’m off to Minnesota for the Nature Valley Grand Prix, then back to east coast for the Saturn Rochester Crit, then Fitzburg stage race, then possibly Cascade. For the next week and a half I’m going to recharge the batteries a little in Durango and should be ready to hit all these races with good form.
The last time I blogged, I was in the middle of the Tour de Gila preparing to race stage four, the crit, with thoughts of stage five rattling around in the back of my mind. I felt great in the crit, so I decided to try to get into a break. I tried to a couple of times; my first attempt was when I saw Mike Dietrich from Sierra-Nevada go up the road. I jumped on that but it didn’t stick. I made another attempt when Jon Tarkinton from Vitamin Cottage attacked; I knew that was a good wheel to follow due to his recent dominance in the Front Range races and reputation as a strong crit tactician. We were able to escape from the group with a couple of TIAA-Cref guys and a couple Successful Living guys. It was good to be up in the break, and I really wanted it to stick so I was driving it probably a bit too hard. The Cref and Successful Living guys were barely taking any pulls, which was a little frustrating. We were out there for most of the race and caught with about eight laps to go. Rashaan Bahati from Cref took the W from Gord who celebrated a little too early.
Before and after the race I got together with the infamous Dr. Frank, the chiropractor of the best pros in Durango. He’s becoming widely known in the world for his research and development of SRA (Spinal Reflex Analysis). The technique that he’s developed is amazing. After the crit, my body was worked, but after Dr. Frank worked on me, I felt like I hadn’t even raced at all. Check his website at http://www.spinalreflex.com/.
The final stage of the Gila was epic. We had about four major climbs to total about 10,000 feet of climbing in about 100 miles. Coming into the first climb, the field had about 100 guys in it. By the time we got over the top the field had already thinned down to about 40 guys. The second climb was the same road, only the other direction and slightly steeper. Once again this split the field in half and only about 20 of us were left. There was one more long and steep climb and this caused about five more guys to pop. We were about 80 miles into the race by this point and the legs were really screaming. I made it over this climb with the lead group, but I finally cracked with about 8 miles to go on the final rollers to the finish. I still managed a decent result and moved way up in GC. Our team made out really well with Colby taking 4th, Guptil 14th, and me in 18th in GC.
After Gila, I spent a couple days in Durango unwinding, then made the 15 hour journey out to Arkansas, my birthplace. We had a solid team at the Joe Martin stage race. It was great to see my teammates, mechanic, and director again. I got to experience having a suanier for the first time, which made recovery so much better. You can’t beat gettin’ a massage after every stage. And Janis made a mean PB and banana sandwich.
The racing in Arkansas was actually pretty damn hard. I don’t know what the promoter was thinking, but he decided to combine the Pros and 1s with 2s, which made for a field of about 215 guys… Way too big! So riding near the front was really important, to avoid gaps and crashes. The pace wasn’t too hard until the one major climb of the course. Unfortunately for me, I was taken out in a crash at the base of the climb when the two guys in front of me locked bars. By the time I got up and on the spare bike I had lost too much time and wasn’t able to catch back up by the top of the climb. At that point, there was no way I was going to be able to catch the group on my own. I caught a small chase group, and then was swept up by a large chase group. I was pretty frustrated with the group because no one was willing to work, and the group was large enough that we could’ve possibly caught up if everyone would’ve taken pulls. So I lost a lot of time in the first stage, which knocked me way out of GC.
The next day was a double day; road race in the morning and TT in the evening. The road race felt little harder then the previous day, but maybe that was just because my legs were just a little more trashed. The TT went alright, but I felt like I could’ve gone a lot harder. The Crit was the final day, and was the hardest crit I’ve ever done. It had a lot of high speed corners, wind, and a steep climb that absolutely punished the legs every lap.
The team ended up doing really well again with four of us in the top forty in GC, with Colby as the top rider in 5th.
I'm back on the road now returning to D-town for the next week and a half. The next block of races will start on the east coast with Captech, Bikejam, and Summerville leading into Philly week. Then I’m off to Minnesota for the Nature Valley Grand Prix, then back to east coast for the Saturn Rochester Crit, then Fitzburg stage race, then possibly Cascade. For the next week and a half I’m going to recharge the batteries a little in Durango and should be ready to hit all these races with good form.
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Gila update
Internet is hard to come by in these parts. I've mainly been poaching it, along with free continental breakfast from the other nearby hotels.
It's day four of the Gila, and the Crit is later today. The last few days have gone pretty good for our team, we're currently sitting in second in the team standings. I've been feeling pretty good everday so far. Tomorrow's the hardest day with the stage being 105 miles with about 10,000 feet of climbing, so the GC should get pretty shaken up.
Yesterday, our team suffered a major loss. Ryan Blickem crashed within the final kilometers and broke his femur. This morning my team and I went down to the hospital to give him some company and he was smiling and in high spirits. It looks like he'll have a lot of rehab ahead of him, but I'm sure that he'll get through it and return to 100% soon enough.
It's day four of the Gila, and the Crit is later today. The last few days have gone pretty good for our team, we're currently sitting in second in the team standings. I've been feeling pretty good everday so far. Tomorrow's the hardest day with the stage being 105 miles with about 10,000 feet of climbing, so the GC should get pretty shaken up.
Yesterday, our team suffered a major loss. Ryan Blickem crashed within the final kilometers and broke his femur. This morning my team and I went down to the hospital to give him some company and he was smiling and in high spirits. It looks like he'll have a lot of rehab ahead of him, but I'm sure that he'll get through it and return to 100% soon enough.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Back on the Road
As usual, it's been a while since my last post. I've been back in Boulder for the last few weeks, and loving life. I'm completely addicted to Boulder; I love everything about the place. I stayed with one of my DH friends from Collegiate racing, and it was a killer situation. It was actually with her family, and her mom made some delicious dinners and desserts!!
Right now, I'm waiting around for the start of the TT at the Tour of the Gila. It's doesn't start until 4:30, so I just gotta chill all day. I've had a little bit of a sore throat for the last couple days, but I think it's just allergies... not gonna let it bother me. We've got a really good team out here, basically all of our climbers are here, which is fitting since this race has more climbing than probably any other stage race in the US. I'm finally feeling good on the climbs again, due to all the climbing I've been doing while in Boulder. To check out the race and results, the website is Tourofthegila.com. After Gila, I'll be doing the Joe Martin Stage Race, then possibly Tri-Peak, then off to the East Coast for a few weeks of racing. Yeah Baby
!!
Right now, I'm waiting around for the start of the TT at the Tour of the Gila. It's doesn't start until 4:30, so I just gotta chill all day. I've had a little bit of a sore throat for the last couple days, but I think it's just allergies... not gonna let it bother me. We've got a really good team out here, basically all of our climbers are here, which is fitting since this race has more climbing than probably any other stage race in the US. I'm finally feeling good on the climbs again, due to all the climbing I've been doing while in Boulder. To check out the race and results, the website is Tourofthegila.com. After Gila, I'll be doing the Joe Martin Stage Race, then possibly Tri-Peak, then off to the East Coast for a few weeks of racing. Yeah Baby
!!
Monday, April 17, 2006
Changes
For the last week, my body has been slowly adapting to the altitude and training load that I’ve been serving it. The epic ride to Estes last weekend left me feeling tired for most of the week. It wasn’t until this weekend that I started feeling the me of old reemerging. Sunday was by far the highest quality day of training that I’ve had this season. I did a TT up Flagstaff, and then did another 30-40 minutes of LT up Four Mile Canyon and over to Sunshine Canyon. After that, I went home, took a nap and then went out and did a 5 pm Stazio Crit. Today, I’m definitely feeling pretty worked, but I expect more adaptation to occur, and I will continue to whack myself for another week in preparation for the Gila in a few weeks.
I’ve also been taking care of all the structural issues that have popped up this year while I’ve been in town. I saw my chiropractor, Dr. Reichlin (TIAA-Cref team Chiropractor, and chiropractor to many top pros), a couple times. He straightened me out and got my motor neurons firing again using a cold laser. I also went to get a bike fit today from Chris Soden at Pro Peloton. This guy is good; he fits a bunch of the top local pros. We made some pretty major changes to my bike and my cleats and found that my posture is horrible. So now I feel very strange on the bike. I hope to adapt to the new setup after a few rides. More than anything, getting the fit and talking to Chris was a huge reminder of how important stretching and a strong core are.
While I’ve been unable to find any sign of form this year, I can honestly say that since I’ve been back to boulder I feel stronger than I’ve been all season. Taking a break and getting some quality training in has screwed my head back on straight. I can clearly see my goals and objectives now, and have the knowledge and motivation to accomplish these. I know that I made a lot of rookie mistakes this year, and that if I would have had the knowledge and experience that I have now, I’d be a hell of a lot stronger right now. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. My job now is to correct for all those mistakes I’ve made and try to cultivate my form to new heights while there’s still time. There’s still a lot of racing left this season, and I plan to be coming up soon. I also have this new experience and knowledge to carry with me into next season which will prove to be very useful.
Right now, my teammates are probably all feeling their nerves begin to set in as the first stage of the Tour of Georgia will begin tomorrow. Good luck guys!
I’ve also been taking care of all the structural issues that have popped up this year while I’ve been in town. I saw my chiropractor, Dr. Reichlin (TIAA-Cref team Chiropractor, and chiropractor to many top pros), a couple times. He straightened me out and got my motor neurons firing again using a cold laser. I also went to get a bike fit today from Chris Soden at Pro Peloton. This guy is good; he fits a bunch of the top local pros. We made some pretty major changes to my bike and my cleats and found that my posture is horrible. So now I feel very strange on the bike. I hope to adapt to the new setup after a few rides. More than anything, getting the fit and talking to Chris was a huge reminder of how important stretching and a strong core are.
While I’ve been unable to find any sign of form this year, I can honestly say that since I’ve been back to boulder I feel stronger than I’ve been all season. Taking a break and getting some quality training in has screwed my head back on straight. I can clearly see my goals and objectives now, and have the knowledge and motivation to accomplish these. I know that I made a lot of rookie mistakes this year, and that if I would have had the knowledge and experience that I have now, I’d be a hell of a lot stronger right now. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. My job now is to correct for all those mistakes I’ve made and try to cultivate my form to new heights while there’s still time. There’s still a lot of racing left this season, and I plan to be coming up soon. I also have this new experience and knowledge to carry with me into next season which will prove to be very useful.
Right now, my teammates are probably all feeling their nerves begin to set in as the first stage of the Tour of Georgia will begin tomorrow. Good luck guys!
Monday, April 10, 2006
Recharging
I haven’t written on my blog for a while, and if you have the patience to read this long-ass post, you’ll kind of get an idea of why (that and the patchy internet access of the past few weeks). I was in Oregon for the last two weeks and I’m now back in Boulder- my home, my sanctuary, and my training grounds. I've had a turbulent start to my racing season. With a string of lackluster results, and a living situation that dissolved my accustomed access to privacy, reality, and life outside of cycling, I left Oxnard feeling lost and mildly depressed. However, I am very enthusiastic about my plans for the coming weeks that will bring me back to a high level of mental strength and happiness with my racing sure to follow.One thing that I seem to lose sight of at some point in the season every year is that my main limiter is my mind. If I'm racing slowly, it’s because I’m mentally cooked. I’ve come to the realization, as I do every season at some time when I hit a low point, that I'm capable of racing at a very high level, but when I’m not fully mentally committed, I will perform suboptimally. Basically I need let my mind engage, to man-up, not be a pussy, and ride my ass off. That’s what I love to do, and I have to remember that. Sometimes, in order to remember this, I need to take a break. I think that when I or any athlete gets into a funk, we have a hard time reflecting on why, other than that there’s something physically wrong with us, which is a very negative thing to dwell on. Sometimes it’s important to step back from the bike for a period of time and submerse yourself in and around things, other than cycling, that make you happy. It’s this time away from cycling and competition that makes you realize how much it means to you, and how much its absence leaves a void in your person. I miss all the wonderful emotions that cycling and racing evokes and remember why it is so important to me, and how I can really tackle the rest of the season.
I went to stay with my parents in Grants Pass for a couple weeks. That was relaxing. My parents eat as healthy as even the most new age co-op shopping Boulderite, which is exactly my style. And it’s just nice to be with people who love you unconditionally. Yep, Oregon was a good break. A 180-degree change from racing and living in a house with 7 or more cyclists that gave me the break I needed to recharge my mental batteries.
Right now, I’m hungry to train and race again. I’ve been fantasizing about hammering up Flagstaff Road (I know, its sick) and trying to beat my record of 24:50. Yesterday I did an epic road ride up in the mountains with some good friends. It was one of those days where you feel like you could just keep going and never stop. I kind of acted on those feelings, because I was out for eight hours, and the ride time was about seven. Luckily, I still got home in time to make it to happy hour at the Mountain Sun and had my favorite post epic ride meal of beer and a Junk burger. I don’t think I could have been more satisfied.
My next big race will be the Tour de Gila so training in Boulder for the next few weeks couldn’t be more perfect to prepare me for the big climbs and the altitude that I’ll be up against. I’ll be back on form in time to do my job at Gila and ready to hammer the rest of the season.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Redlands Prologue
Prologues are hard. The Prologue stage of Redlands was today... and the pH of my entire body felt like it hit an all time low. I started way too hard and by the time I got to the two walls before the finish, my muscles were fully saturated in lactic acid and unable to produce the kind of power and spark that they felt during my openers the day before. The last time I was in this great of oxygen debt was during the uphill bobsled TT at the Deer Valley Norba last year... I gotta learn how to pace myself better.
I'm not too worried about how I finished though... Sunday’s circuit will be the true test and GC will likely change quite a bit.
Anthony had far and away the best ride today coming in 12th, and I know he'll perform strong in the circuit.
Tomorrow is a 9 corner crit that's supposed to be really hard and fast. It doesn't start until 3:30, so I got a long day ahead of me.
For the second weekend in a row, the host housing is spectacular. The house is beautiful, huge, spacious, hot tub, swimming pool, two dogs, lots of TV’s, a huge pantry of food, you name it.
I'm not too worried about how I finished though... Sunday’s circuit will be the true test and GC will likely change quite a bit.
Anthony had far and away the best ride today coming in 12th, and I know he'll perform strong in the circuit.
Tomorrow is a 9 corner crit that's supposed to be really hard and fast. It doesn't start until 3:30, so I got a long day ahead of me.
For the second weekend in a row, the host housing is spectacular. The house is beautiful, huge, spacious, hot tub, swimming pool, two dogs, lots of TV’s, a huge pantry of food, you name it.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Feelin' Good, Feelin' Motivated
Alright, last weekend, I wasn't feeling too hot. But after a few days of hard rest I'm feeling ready to push my body to the limits this weekend at the Redlands NRC. I did a couple openers today and felt good.
Redlands starts off with a slight uphill TT... but it looks like it'll favor more of a strong time trialist rather than a strong climber. On Saturday is a crit, and Sunday is supposed to be a hard road race. So far this year, the road races haven't been hard enough to create a selection. I'll try my hardest to make it into that final selection. This race looks like it suits me much more than everything else I've done this year, it should be fun.
The big news right now is that our team made it into the Tour of Georgia, the second largest stage race in the country. That's huge for us as only about half of the US Pro teams get invited. I really hope to be selected for the team that's going... it would be such an amazing experience for me. I think I'm going to have to prove that I should be there this weekend at Redlands.
A few teammates and I went to see V for Vendetta last night. Futuristic sci-fi with a 1984ish plot and some badass fight-scenes... I liked it.
Redlands starts off with a slight uphill TT... but it looks like it'll favor more of a strong time trialist rather than a strong climber. On Saturday is a crit, and Sunday is supposed to be a hard road race. So far this year, the road races haven't been hard enough to create a selection. I'll try my hardest to make it into that final selection. This race looks like it suits me much more than everything else I've done this year, it should be fun.
The big news right now is that our team made it into the Tour of Georgia, the second largest stage race in the country. That's huge for us as only about half of the US Pro teams get invited. I really hope to be selected for the team that's going... it would be such an amazing experience for me. I think I'm going to have to prove that I should be there this weekend at Redlands.
A few teammates and I went to see V for Vendetta last night. Futuristic sci-fi with a 1984ish plot and some badass fight-scenes... I liked it.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Taking a break soon
I'm in the town of Visalia, CA now awaiting the 3 o'clock start of the crit, gettin'/maintaining my buzz at one the local internet cafes. Yesterday my team and I raced a 30K TT. The course was pretty good... a decent hill at the beginning and end with a few rollers in between. I felt like total ass. As Coach Crawford would put it, my CNS is cooked... I need a break. I still have one race left next weekend, Redlands, so I plan on resting super hard all week in hopes of recharging my mind and body enough to ride with motivation and at the level of fitness that I should be at right now.
After three months of being on the road with the team, I came to the realization that it's time for a break. The day after Redlands I'll be flying up to Portland to see a friend of mine from High School, and then I'll head down to Grants Pass, OR to stay with my folks for about a week. Then I'm heading back to my home town Boulder, CO and will be there for possibly a few weeks.
In Oregon, I'll unwind... get my mind off racing and just relax. Once I get to Boulder, I'll wind it up again in hopes of being on top mental and physical form by the end of April. For me, Boulder is the absolute best training environment, and I think it'll be key in bringing me to high mental and physical levels again.
After three months of being on the road with the team, I came to the realization that it's time for a break. The day after Redlands I'll be flying up to Portland to see a friend of mine from High School, and then I'll head down to Grants Pass, OR to stay with my folks for about a week. Then I'm heading back to my home town Boulder, CO and will be there for possibly a few weeks.
In Oregon, I'll unwind... get my mind off racing and just relax. Once I get to Boulder, I'll wind it up again in hopes of being on top mental and physical form by the end of April. For me, Boulder is the absolute best training environment, and I think it'll be key in bringing me to high mental and physical levels again.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Back to the Beach
I'm back in Oxnard and once again the house is packed. I'm shacked up again in the garage, which is fine with me, I actually like sleeping in there.
I finished out the weekend with a fun crit on Sunday in the Central Valley stage race. The course had a 180 degree turn on the same street... so each lap the entire field came to almost a complete stop, then it was a full on sprint once we made it around the turn. The field stayed pretty much strung out for the entire race, and the pace was high the whole time. It made it very hard to move up though. I finished in the pack, but I felt really good and comfortable during the race, I think I've got some form coming on, and with that a bit more confidence.
I'm hoping to do the San Dimas stage race this weekend, but I didn't register early enough before the race reached it's field limit. My team director is working on it, but I kinda doubt I'll get in. If not, I think there's some local races I might be able to do. Right now though, I just want to keep racing as much as possible.
I finished out the weekend with a fun crit on Sunday in the Central Valley stage race. The course had a 180 degree turn on the same street... so each lap the entire field came to almost a complete stop, then it was a full on sprint once we made it around the turn. The field stayed pretty much strung out for the entire race, and the pace was high the whole time. It made it very hard to move up though. I finished in the pack, but I felt really good and comfortable during the race, I think I've got some form coming on, and with that a bit more confidence.
I'm hoping to do the San Dimas stage race this weekend, but I didn't register early enough before the race reached it's field limit. My team director is working on it, but I kinda doubt I'll get in. If not, I think there's some local races I might be able to do. Right now though, I just want to keep racing as much as possible.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Fresno baby!!
Lots has happened since my last post… McLane last weekend… windy gutter-fest. I double flatted, so that ended my day.
Since then I’ve been in Fresno for the week where I’m currently racing the Central Valley Classic Stage race. There was originally supposed to be an epic hill climb TT similar to Flagstaff road in Boulder (a little longer) on Friday, but that got cancelled because of a big snowstorm that dumped all over the mountain. Instead we did a 16 mile flat TT. I didn’t post a good time, but Blickem, our TT superstar was eighth. Today was pretty miserable, 120 flat miles in 40 degree rainy weather. I finished. Tomorrow is the crit… hopefully it doesn’t’ rain… that could be a bit hairy.
My parents are coming to visit tonight and watch the crit tomorrow, and we’re gonna have a good ol’ family reunion with my grandma, aunt, and cousins who all live in Fresno.
That’s all I got time for today… no internet at house so I gotta go to the café and only have so much time to surf porn.
Lata!
Since then I’ve been in Fresno for the week where I’m currently racing the Central Valley Classic Stage race. There was originally supposed to be an epic hill climb TT similar to Flagstaff road in Boulder (a little longer) on Friday, but that got cancelled because of a big snowstorm that dumped all over the mountain. Instead we did a 16 mile flat TT. I didn’t post a good time, but Blickem, our TT superstar was eighth. Today was pretty miserable, 120 flat miles in 40 degree rainy weather. I finished. Tomorrow is the crit… hopefully it doesn’t’ rain… that could be a bit hairy.
My parents are coming to visit tonight and watch the crit tomorrow, and we’re gonna have a good ol’ family reunion with my grandma, aunt, and cousins who all live in Fresno.
That’s all I got time for today… no internet at house so I gotta go to the café and only have so much time to surf porn.
Lata!
Thursday, March 02, 2006
McLane
It's only a couple of days until the McLane Pacific crit and road race up in Merced, CA. This will be my first NRC of the season. I'm chomping at the bit right now... I need to race... no more training!! This race is supposed to be pretty flat and is known for being sketchy and finishing with a field sprint... not really my ideal race, but it's still a race, and the field will be packed with fast teams and riders.
Afterwards, my team will be having a team camp up in Fresno. The camp will lead up to the next NRC, Central Valley, which looks like it has an uphill TT. I hope to do well in this event... I have no idea how well I'm climbing right now... but I have a feeling I'll do okay. I'm slowly feeling some form come on lately sa I've been begining to do some real intensity in the last couple weeks.
Watching Enter the Dragon right now... Bruce Lee is one bad ass MoFo.
Afterwards, my team will be having a team camp up in Fresno. The camp will lead up to the next NRC, Central Valley, which looks like it has an uphill TT. I hope to do well in this event... I have no idea how well I'm climbing right now... but I have a feeling I'll do okay. I'm slowly feeling some form come on lately sa I've been begining to do some real intensity in the last couple weeks.
Watching Enter the Dragon right now... Bruce Lee is one bad ass MoFo.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Tickling the VO2
The Tour of California finished about forty miles from my house today, so Wes and I rode there to check it out. I'm finally starting to do some LT (hard) workouts. So on the way, I hammered up the Mulholland Hwy, one of the many canyons that splits off of the Pacific Coast Hwy. The finish of the race was in the town of Thousand Oaks at the Amgen headquarters. I was completely blown away by the number of spectators that showed up for the finish. There were hundreds. It kinda sucked, because I wasn't even able to see the race there were so many people in my way.
I didn't hang out at the race for very long and made my way back to the PCH so that I could hit up one more climb. While I've been living in California, I've been putting this climb off (Deer Creek Road) until I started LT... Today my time finally came. The climb was awesome, incredibly steep for about 12-15 minutes. I pinned it for about 10 minutes, tickling the VO2 a little, but that's all I had since I was around five hours into my ride... and I'm not too used to the lactic acid yet.
When I got to the top I took a picture of myself with the ocean in the background... I figure there's rarely a picture of me up here, so you can print it out and stick it to the ceiling above your bed... or put it in your garage and throw darts at it... it's up to you. 
Tomorrow I'll be doing another local crit in Ontario (east LA). There's $1000 purse for pro 1/2, so hopefully I can get my hands on some of that.
It's supposed to rain on Monday and Tuesday... Bummer. I haven't seen rain in probably like 4 or 5 months... I'm actually a little excited, I hope it storms hard!
In my last post I was talking about old friends contacting me... well another friend of mine from Jr. High e-mailed me yesterday... Dan Wold!! Wow, that was a major surprise. I haven't spoken to him in like six or more years. He's actually the one who got me into mountain biking. He and I used to bomb our Trek 820s down some sick, crazy shit!! We beat the shit out of those things.
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